Surname Saturday: First Try!

A funny thing happened on the way to my starting a regular Surname Saturday post here. It all started with a post about cousin bait which you can find here: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/01/cousin-bait-strategy-needed.html.

And by the way, there's been a nice community response to it, of which I'm glad because the more we can help each other the better:) Anyway, the ever-helpful Randy Seaver commented and revealed the process by which he generated the list of ancestors for his regular Surname Saturday posts. I printed out what he had to say and tried to do likewise so I too could be off and running with fabulous content with which to lure the elusive cousins.

He said to create an ahnentafel report (ancestor table) and then start with ancestor 1, next week go to ancestor 3, then 5, 7, 9.... in following weeks OK, I'm lost! I'm so dyslexic and number phobic that I froze like the proverbial deer in headlights. Wait, they're odd numbers, right? I printed out my ahnentafel report and then a chart hoping that it would help me visualize the task at hand. 1,3, 5, 7, 9, 11. I'll make a list.

But no time because I was off this morning to a very special event put on by the San Diego Genealogical Society featuring David E. Rencher, FamilySearch Chief Genealogical Officer, and I really need to learn all I can about that wonderful and vast resource. Hey, I thought, maybe I could catch Randy for a half-second because he said in one of his writings that he would be there. I found a seat next to a pile of papers and settled in. This was going to be good, I thought with a bit of a grin. Oh, there's Randy, and he's walking right over here, and he's sitting down next to me and that's his pile of papers!! Goodie!!

Randy was nice enough to explain it all and once he did, it took all of two seconds out of a New York minute, and he did it so even I could understand it! Hey, this is easy and after the first one, which is my Dad and Mom, it all follows the women! Cool!

Here's a link to one of Randy's Surname Saturday posts: http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/12/surname-saturday-clark-england-to.html

So here goes launching my very first Surname Saturday! Calling all Kelly cousins: come and get it!

1. Diane K. Weintraub (me)

2. Francis Patrick Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams Kelly, living and loving it!

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly 1892 -1969
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller 1894 - 1985

8. Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923
9. Christiana Eckhart 1861 - 1932

16. John Kelly 1829 - 1891
17. Bridgit Cockrane 1830 - after 1910
John came to the United States, met Bridget and married here. We know where he's burried but Bridget's grave eludes us. We'd love to find it.
They married 21 June 1848 in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland and had eight children: Mary Ann Kelly 1849 - ?, Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923, #8 above, Catherine Elizabeth Kelly 1857 - ?, Michael Kelly 1859 - 1909, Margaret Kelly 1862 - ?, Theresa Kelly 1860 - ?, and John Kelly 1872 - ?.

32. John Kelly 1800 - ?
33. Bridget Brown about 1800 - ?
Mom tracked down the parish records for this family in Ireland in the Clonmacnoise Parish. We got permission from the parish priest, then went over to the building on the corner and climbed the long set of wooden stair to the room where people were entering the records in a database. Mom copied all that was available, chatted the the workers and found out that we'd come all that way to learn that the old parish records were burned in a parish house fire. More's the pity. We still hold out hope that other records besides those of the church will eventually become known to us.

This is a short list and one of the shortest to come. The records end for us with the tragic parish fire in the little town of Shannonbridge. But never mind. As I found out at the seminar today, more and more records are coming online everyday.

Here are some of the photos in the Archive associated with this family line.

2. Francis Patrick Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams Kelly, living and loving it!

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly 1892 -1969
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller 1894 - 1985

Front row center:

8. Francis Patrick Kelly 1854 - 1923
9. Christiana Eckhart 1861 - 1932

The tombstone of 16. John Kelly 1829 - 1891
St Michaels' Cemetery, Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/01/surname-saturday-first-try.html

Some Shared Family Photos

You know how it goes: cousins can drift apart over the years. Until quite recently I'd been out of close touch with the first cousins but this family history thing has brought us back together again. I'm thankful for that.

Cousin Linda and I met last time I was in to visit Mom. She and I met up for breakfast at the Princess Restaurant in Frostburg, Maryland on a rainy Monday morning. It was a warm get-together on a cold morning and we laughed a lot. Poodle skirts got us chuckling. Then the memories flowed!

After a bit she brought out some family photos and I want to share them here in no particular order. I just now re sized them and adjusted the contrast so they are ready for their debut here on the blog:)

Here's hoping that you get a kick out of your family photos too!! Send us a link in the comments section if you like.

Grandma Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly has a happy birthday! She loved pink!!

It was 1942 and the boys were off to WWII. Here are the ladies.

Grandma Kelly and Aunt Chris Kelly Fraley.

Grandpop John Lee Kelly (everyone called him Lee) loved the front porch. Heck, we all did!

Grandma Kelly loved the front porch... and pink!

Grandpop Kelly and a young Aunt Louise Kelly Chaney, Cousin Linda's Mom.

My Dad in the middle of his brothers. Delbert on the left ... but I have to check with Mom as to who that is on the right. Think it's Uncle Bernie.

Grandpop Kelly and his kids in the 1920s. The oldest boy is my Dad, second from the right.

Grandpop and Grandma Kelly with Aunt Louise in the grand's kitchen, 1965. Grandma would not be pleased with this picture as it's not her best... but I like all of the pictures of my family!

My grandparents were always in love. Can you tell?

Mining Stories

Grandpa Kelly (John Lee Kelly born 4 Mar 1892, Eckhart MD, died 28 May 1969, Frostburg MD), as I remember him, was often ill. He worked in the coal mines as a young man with some of his brothers. His father and older brothers worked on the rail road, which was the better job. The younger brothers found what work they could and that was in the coal mines.

It's hard back-breaking work and dangerous too. We still see stories but in the early centuries of the 1900s it was way worse. Mine owners then and now look to the bottom line and not the welfare of the men who do the work. You can probably sense my opinion on the subject.

My Grandpa Kelly had black lung disease and died of his battle with it. It wasn't pretty to watch.

But I have other, happy memories of him. He had a playful nature, loved a joke or playing a joke on someone. His favorite activity was taking a ride in the car, the simple pleasure of enjoying the passing countryside. I love that too. And he was pretty happy watching the world out the kitchen window from his favorite rocking chair at the center of the household. He liked TV too, and before that radio. They expanded his world.

He loved Jimmy Durante and did a fair impression of him too when he'd say, "Haaa-Chhh-Chhh-Chaa," or "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash wherever you are." Always made me laugh!

He took a nap every afternoon on a daybed in the dining room. In winter, before they got the new furnace, he'd climb down to the basement and stoke the old coal furnace and climb back up again on a narrow ladder. That took a toll on him and he'd have to "rest up a minute", coughing intensely.

He was skinny as could be but Grandma would cook him anything he desired anytime of the day or night. They loved each other plenty. "Come here Cutie and give me a kiss," he'd say to her.

Sometimes when he'd get angry at a perceived injustice he say something about "getting the Molly Maguires after em'" to take care of the offending party. As a kid, I had no idea who the Mollies were but they sure did sound ominous!

A couple of years ago I asked Mom about the Molly Maguires and she didn't remember Grandpa saying anything about them. The name Molly Maguires stuck with me so clearly that I had to google that term and find out what I could. Low and behold, here they are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Maguires

It's a dramatic tale of "good" versus "evil, depending on which side you're on. Last winter surfing channels I found the movie about them! As Wikipedia makes reference, "The Molly Maguires, starring Sean Connery and Richard Harris, was released in 1970". I watched it... didn't win any Academy Awards:)

It's funny the tid-bits we remember and how they fit into the lives of our ancestors. I can remember Grandpa sitting in his rocker shaking his fist at some politician and vowing that the Mollies would right it all.

Grandpa Kelly on the right standing

with his brothers and father, Frank,

Francis Patrick Kelly (1854 - 1923)

Grandpa Kelly with Grandma, 1942